Free Oleg Sentsov

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10 May marks three years since prominent Ukrainian writer and filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges after an unfair trial by a Russian military court, marred by allegations of torture. PEN International fears that Oleg Sentsov was imprisoned for his opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and calls on the Russian authorities to release him immediately. Should there be grounds for prosecution on charges of terrorism, these should be heard by a civilian court under Ukrainian law.

 Please send appeals:

  • Urging the Russian authorities to release Oleg Sentsov immediately;
  • Should there be grounds to prosecute Oleg Sentsov on charges of terrorism, these should be heard by a civilian court under Ukrainian law, as required by international humanitarian law. Any testimony obtained through torture or other ill-treatment must be excluded from proceedings;
  • Calling on the Russian authorities to order an independent and impartial investigation into Oleg Sentsov’s allegations of torture and other ill-treatment. Anyone against whom there is sufficient admissible evidence of responsibility should be brought to justice.

Send appeals to:

Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
Yuri Yakovlevich Chaika
Prosecutor General’s Office
ul. B. Dmitrovka, d.15a
125993 Moscow GSP- 3
Russian Federation

Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation
Tatiana Nikolaevna Moskalkova
ul. Miasnitskaia, 47
107084, Moscow
Russian Federation

Send copies to the Embassy of Russia in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: ‘.((strlen(‘https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/russia’)>40) ? substr(‘https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/russia’,0,40).’…’ : ‘https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/russia’).’‘.

Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Russia, calling on them to raise Oleg Sentsov’s case in bilateral fora.

***Please send appeals immediately. Check with PEN International if sending appeals after 10 August 2017. ***

Please inform PEN of any action you take and of any responses you receive.